Jews Afghanistan

Ancient Iranian tradition suggests that Jews settled in Balkh, a Zoroastrian and Buddhist stronghold at the time. The Kingdom of Judah collapsed in 587 BCE leading to this migration. In modern times, decades of extreme persecution have led to the country's Jewish population disappearing entirely. At the time of the large-scale 2021 Taliban offensive, only two Jews were still residing in the country: Zablon Simintov and his distant cousin Tova Moradi. When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was re-established by the Taliban in August 2021, both Simintov and Moradi immigrated to Israel on 7 September 2021 and 29 October 2021, respectively, leaving Afghanistan completely empty of Jews. The overwhelming majority of the Afghan Jewish community today - a branch of Iranian-Jewry - resides in Israel, with a small group of a few hundred living in the United States and the United Kingdom. In Afghanistan, the Jews had formed a community of leather and karakul merchants, landowners, and moneylenders. Jewish families mostly lived in the cities of Herat and Kabul, while their patriarchs traveled back and forth on trading trips across Central Asia and Iran. They carved their prayers in Hebrew and Aramaic on mountain rocks as they moved between the routes of the Silk Road.